Former Alcoholic from Bashkiria Village on Benders and Sobriety

UFA1.RU spoke with a former alcoholic who drank in benders until age 48 but managed to stop and no longer consumes alcohol at all. Our interviewee is an ordinary village tractor driver, Valery Andreyev, who was not ashamed to appear in a documentary film that aired on Russian TV platforms.

«What is there to be ashamed of?» he wondered in a conversation with UFA1.RU. «It happened, everyone saw it.»

Valery lives in the village of Dyurtyuli in the Sharansky District (not to be confused with the city of the same name). He was born there in 1962, studied at the local school, where he met his future wife.

«In the third grade we even sat at the same desk, but we were always fighting and arguing, and they separated us,» Valery recalls.

After finishing school, he immediately went to work in the tractor park, but soon he was drafted into the army. After serving two years in the Air Force, Valery returned home and continued working in the village as a tractor driver.

«All the time in the field, at the slightest thing — we»d drink. We used any excuse. Hammered a nail — have a drink. Vodka, moonshine. At first a little, then — more, more, more. I drank in benders. I wasn«t alone, but some know their limit, they drink and that»s it, no continuation tomorrow. But me — the next day, and then, and then,« Andreyev says.

Despite the benders, Valery at first didn«t worry much about his life and health. The problem didn»t seem so terrible to him, especially since sometimes Andreyev went for long periods without alcohol at all. But then he would fall back, as they say, into the abyss, and each time deeper.

«I could go months without drinking, but one glass in the mouth — and that»s it, I was lost. There are people who have a bottle and it just sits there, but others need to drink it all and go for more. If I knew how to drink, maybe I wouldn«t have quit,» Andreyev jokes.

Meanwhile, according to Valery, there was already a shortage of tractor drivers in the village. They kept him on the job, and sometimes he would go out drunk. Because of this, he once even drove a tractor into a river. He miraculously survived, but didn«t quit drinking. However, the drinking buddies around him gradually dwindled.

«My wife»s brother even passed away before me. 48 years old, he also worked, also drank. In the end — cirrhosis of the liver. I remember, I drank a bottle of vodka once, and I thought: another week or two of this and they«ll carry me to the cemetery too,» Valery says.

The turning point for him was the appointment of Radik Faizullin as chairman of the local collective farm. He was a couple of years older than Andreyev, but they knew each other from school, and then Radik left the village, returning many years later. Seeing the state Valery was in when he came to work, the new collective farm chairman confessed to him that he himself used to drink so heavily that he needed medical help.

«He said that he hasn»t drunk at all for many years, and knows how I can quit. He says: «Just tell me, and I»ll arrange everything.« I don»t know how he drank or didn«t drink while he wasn»t in the village, but I remembered his words,« the tractor driver says.

After another drinking bout, he finally turned to Faizullin. He specifically asked several times: «Do you really want to quit?» Valery confirmed again and again that yes, absolutely. Then the collective farm chairman asked him to wait three days, while they found a temporary replacement for Valery and took him to a coding specialist in the city.

Faizullin set one condition: not to drink a drop until that moment. Valery promised he wouldn«t, but the very next day he couldn»t resist. According to Andreyev, that April day became one of the main memorable dates in his life.

«I told everyone that I was going to get coded. The guys were surprised: »Valerka, such things are usually done quietly. You«re lying, you probably won»t go anywhere, just talking.« But why hide? I drank openly, everyone saw. I»m going for myself, to get treatment, not for someone else. But the day before departure I drank two bottles of gin and tonic,« Andreyev admits.

But, unlike him, Faizullin kept his promise. He sent him to the city hospital with his wife on the appointed date. According to Valery, the doctor first talked with him for a long time, then took his wife aside. Later he learned that the specialist wanted to confirm with the spouse that the patient had come voluntarily.

«Even before arriving, I thought that maybe I agreed for nothing. Then I decided: heck, I promised Radik Salikhovich, I gave my word! How can I go back now?!» Valery recalls.

Convinced the doctor that he had made the decision to treat himself, Valery underwent all necessary procedures. For this, he had to stay in the city for some time, but upon returning, he was firmly convinced that he would not drink anymore.

«Radik Salikhovich warned me: »Valerka, at first, you can«t do without doctors.» Then, he says, you won«t want to yourself. And I really already wanted to just live without drinking, a sober life,» the tractor driver says.

This thought and the word given to his older comrade helped him abstain from alcohol. A year after coding, a grief occurred in his family — his mother died.

«Then both enemy and friend looked at me like: »Now you«ll drink,»« Valery says. »But I didn«t drink then or later. Not even a thought.»

Later, Radik Faizullin also passed away, to whom Andreyev, as he admits, is still grateful for the help. But the main loss for him in 2023 was the death of his wife, with whom he grew up and raised three daughters. The children are already adults, they left the village where they got married, but sometimes visit their father.

«The youth here don»t stay. I sometimes think that in another five years, there will be no one left in the village at all. In 1981, there were 20 of us tractor drivers, and now — only two, me and my classmate,« Valery laments.

It is worth noting that about half a thousand people live in Dyurtyuli. In 2023, the local council participated in the project «Sober Village». This is a republican program to combat drunkenness, the winners of which receive additional subsidies for improvement.

The eponymous film in the genre of documentary tragicomedy was released recently but has already received high praise from critics. In particular, it is praised for its vitality and humor. Valery Andreyev became one of the heroes of the film. What «Sober Village» is about and why it«s worth watching, read in the analysis by UFA1.RU.